First victory

Strugglers Vityaz Chekhov picked up their first win of the season at high-flying Torpedo thanks to Mikhail Anisin. The 23-year-old has begun the season in a rich vein of scoring form despite his team’s struggles, and he added a couple in Nizhny Novgorod to the one he’s scored against Dynamo Moscow last week.

His decisive contribution this time came towards the end of the second period: on 35:19 he scored a powerplay goal, then in the last second before the siren he put Vityaz ahead with an unassisted effort.

In the third period Torpedo’s Martin Thornberg repeatedly tested Matt Dalton in the Vityaz goal, but the Canadian stopper was in inspired form, facing more than 40 shots and repeatedly saving his team.